Avatar Who?
by boasamishipper
Summary: ["Listen up," Korra says, leaning in closer, "before we go anywhere, before we do anything, there's something you ought to know about me. This is important, now, and one day your life may depend on it." Her serious expression abruptly dissolves into a wild grin. "I am definitely just a madwoman with a polar bear dog."] Or, the Doctor Who!AU of Legend of Korra.
1. prologue: when a good man goes to war

_a/n: i own nothing, i promise. everything belongs to bryke._

* * *

 _prologue:_

 _demons run when a good man goes to war_

 _night will fall and drown the sun_

 _when a good man goes to war_

 _friendship dies and true love lies_

 _night will fall and the dark will rise_

 _when a good man goes to war_

 _demons run, but count the cost_

 _the battle's won, but the child is lost_

 _when a good man goes to war_

 _-Steven Moffat_

* * *

"Aang, you can't leave."

Aang wished that Katara would stop begging him to stay—she knew that he had to go. His children knew. It was foolish of him to stay in a comfortable life with his wife and children while the fabric of the space-time continuum was in such a state of disarray. "Katara," he began delicately, not wanting to leave any more than she wanted him to. "I have to leave. It's my duty as the Avatar to protect you, and Bumi, and Kya, and the little one on the way." His frown grew into a fond smile as he leaned closer to Katara's side and placed a gentle hand on her swollen stomach.

(He still recalled when she'd told him that she was pregnant for the first time, and how he had run around the island chanting something akin to _"I'm gonna be a daaaa-dy, I'm gonna be a daaaa-dy"_ the whole while.)

A choked sigh escaped Katara's throat as she sidestepped away from him and crossed her arms over her chest. "What about your duty as a _husband?"_ she spat, sounding angrier with every word that she threw in his direction. He didn't remember the last time he'd seen her so upset. "What about your duty as a father? Spirits, Aang, you can't just abandon us! We need you, all of us need you! Bumi is seven years old—he needs his daddy and so does Kya! She's only four! And how do you expect me to raise our newest child without their father?"

"I _know,_ Katara!" Aang shouted, bits of his temper escaping him. Air swirled around his fingertips, and it took every ounce of willpower he had not to let his temper get the best of him. He couldn't go into the Avatar State now. "I know," he said again, his voice quieter. "Do you honestly think I want to abandon you?"

"You're certainly acting like it!"

"How can you say that?" Aang's heart felt like it had been crushed by a steel hand and he was sure that it showed in his expression. "How can you stand there and tell me that I don't love you or my children more than life itself?"

Katara's stoic expression crumpled like a paper bag and she rushed at him. For a split second he actually thought that she was going to slap him, but her arms enveloped him in a warm hug and he relaxed into it, feeling all of a child again. "I'm sorry," she murmured, pulling him down so she could press a quick kiss to his lips. "Spirits, I'm—I know it's your job, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"You liked it fine when it was you and me against the world, traveling through time and space," he said, injecting a bit of levity into their conversation.

Thankfully, Katara let out a small giggle. "Back then things were different," she said fondly, and he knew that she had just experienced the same trip down memory lane that he had. Of first words ( _"Want to go penguin-sledding with me?"_ ) and exchanging names ( _"I'm the Avatar." "But do you have a name?" "...Aang. You can call me Aang." "I'm Katara, and this is my brother, Sokka."_ ) and saving the world together. "Now I'm an old married woman with two kids, a third on the way and a husband with a saving-people-complex."

"Hey, I take offense to that," Aang replied, not offended at all.

The silence between them was comfortable and was only interrupted by a door slamming open and two sets of footsteps running down the porch and small, pleading voices begging "Daddy, Daddy please don't go!"

Aang swore that his heart shattered into a million pieces as Kya, his little princess and the spitting image of her mother, leapt into his arms with the agility of an acrobat and threw her little arms over his neck. He felt something wet trickling down his neck that he was positive wasn't sweat. "Daddy, you can't leave," Kya whimpered. "I'm sorry for anything I did, just please don't go..."

"Oh, Spirits, honey." Aang had no idea where to even begin reassuring her. "It's not your fault, nothing is your fault..."

"Then it's mine, isn't it, Dad?" Before Aang knew it his arms were filled with two of his crying children. "Dad, I'm sorry for pulling Kya's hair and getting a bad grade on my science project and eating those egg cookies before dinner and—"

"Bumi, slow down, none of you did anything wrong, I promise," he said, kneeling so he could see eye to eye with his children. "You know that my job is important, guys. I have to save the world, and that means that I have to go for a while."

"C-can't you save the world from home?" Bumi pleaded, clasping his hands together. Kya, copying her big brother, did the same. Aang's heart broke a little bit more. "Please?"

"I really wish I could," Aang whispered. "But I can't." Pull yourself together, Aang, he could hear Kyoshi's gruff voice telling him. He sniffled. "But I won't be gone forever, I promise. It'll seem like five minutes, guys." Bumi and Kya nodded, reassured slightly, because they knew that Aang never broke a promise. "Boom, I need you to be a big man and look out for your mom and your siblings, okay? I'm counting on you."

Bumi snapped him a salute, looking absolutely serious with the prospect of his mission. "I promise, Dad."

"And Kya, I need you to be a good girl, okay, sweetie?" He didn't get to finish the sentence before the little girl affirmed his promise and gave him a a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Aang stood up, knowing he couldn't put it off any longer. "Katara," he began, taking a last look at his wife, drinking in the sight of her. He never wanted to forget her, not as long as he lived. He wanted to say a thousand things to her, but if he had the rest of his life he wouldn't be able to describe all the ways that he loved her. They had had years together through time and space, and yet he found it impossible to leave her. "I love you to the moon and back."

"I love you more, Aang." Katara looked ready to cry again. "You had better come back, or I swear, I will track you down and drag you back here kicking and screaming. You hear me?"

"I hear you." A laugh escaped from him like a gust of wind. "I won't be gone forever," he told his family as Appa flew down beside him with a grunt. "I will be back before you know it. I promise."

He climbed on top of his sky-bison and took one last look at his family: at Katara, in all of her beauty even at four months pregnant, at Bumi, already accepting his temporary position as man of the house, and at Kya, his little princess blowing him kisses. "I love you," he called as Appa took off. "I'll be back soon, I promise!"

* * *

He never came back.

* * *

You see, it was not because he wanted to abandon his family. It was because of his duty, the reason of his existence.

So Avatar Aang, as he was called, fulfilled his duty and battled the incarnation of evil while missing his children growing up, while missing growing old with his wife. While doing his duty, he missed his friends and former companions growing old and moving on to the Spirit World—

...what's that?

Ah. You do not understand _why_ it was his duty and his duty alone to fight evil.

My apologies, dear readers.

Allow me to backtrack.

Once upon a time, before humans came to be, before the formation of the Four Nations, when the universe was in its infancy, there were lion turtles. They lived in the Spirit Wilds and served as protectors of mankind by housing human cities on their backs. As indicated by the symbols on their foreheads, lion turtles showed affinity for one of the four bending arts (water, fire, earth, or air) and possessed the ability to grant certain individuals with the power to control the specific element to which they were attributed.

Those able to bend an element, as it was called, were granted the prominent title of Avatar.

And along with a specific element, they were granted the ability to travel through time by bending gravity and the space-time continuum to their will.

(The latter was an ability that the Avatars rarely used, but made for wicked games of hide and seek.)

Millennia passed. Avatars lived in harmony with their Spirit and human counterparts (who were unable to bend and were happy that way). One particular Spirit, Raava, the embodiment of light and hope, formed a bond with an Avatar named Wan, who had the power of fire. (Exactly _what_ kind of bond they had differs from story to story.)

And then, dear readers, everything went to hell.

The embodiment of evil, called Vaatu, arose and spread lies and dissidence to the humans, who rebelled against the lion turtles, demanding to have the powers of the elements like the Avatars had. Their pleas were unsuccessful, and the humans raged, killing all of the lion turtles—or so they thought. One remained, the one belonging to Wan.

While the humans were initially sad at having lost their protectors, they quickly bounced back and created a civilization of their own—the Four Nations—and their children and grandchildren later forgot all about the lion turtles and the Spirits and Avatars and their strange powers.

Wan and Raava, on the run, never forgot, and spent the rest of their lives on the run from Vaatu, who was determined to hunt them down and let the world lose its last protector. He possessed certain Spirits to do his bidding, nicknamed Darkies by Wan.

But Vaatu and Wan could not avoid each other forever.

In a fierce battle, both were left mortally wounded. In an effort to keep Wan alive, Raava permanently fused with him on the Avatar's last breath, causing an anomaly to occur—Wan was now immortal. Whenever wounded gravely, his body would change, and he could go on living forever and ever. He could change his age, but never his appearance. That was Raava's bidding. Upon death, the Avatar Spirit caused the Avatar to reincarnate into someone able to bend a new element, dictated by the cyclic order: fire to air to water to earth, for always and eternity.

As always, there was a catch. The reincarnation cycle could only be broken if the Avatar was killed while in the Avatar State (a defense mechanism designed to empower the Avatar with the bending abilities and knowledge of all the past Avatars), Raava was removed from the Avatar and destroyed, or the Avatar Spirit was compromised by a spiritual infection.

Vaatu, unfortunately, had the same idea, and fused with a human, giving himself the ability to regenerate as the Avatar would in an effort to finally, one day, kill him.

Raava did not disappear—she was always there for the Avatars after Wan. Not as a Spirit as she once had, but as an animal companion. Yes, dear readers, Aang's Appa was Raava, and Aang himself was Wan, many centuries into the future.

The Avatar, on every reincarnation, chose a new name for himself or herself. They preferred to travel in time with companions in order to feel less alone. Only their companions could call them by their chosen names—everyone else must christen them as "Avatar".

The precise second that Avatar Roku (gifted with the powers of fire) regenerated, he and Raava were kept in suspended animation (read: trapped in an iceberg) for a hundred years by Vaatu. It all seemed bleak. Humanity began to dissolve into war. Vaatu began to think he had won.

And then two siblings from the Water Tribe, Katara and Sokka, discovered the Avatar's newest incarnation.

(Ah, you are starting to understand, are you not? You need not worry, my story is nearly complete.)

Raava regenerated into a sky-bison and was nicknamed Appa. The new Avatar, gifted with the powers of air, took the name Aang and assumed the age of a twelve year old in order for him to better fit in with his new friends. With the help of a blind heiress with nerves of steel, a runaway prince looking to regain his honor, a fan-brandishing warrior, a master swordsman and a kind healer in training, Aang helped get the world out of the gutter and took his new friends on adventures in time and space.

Dear readers, you know what happens next. You know that Aang marries Katara. You know that they have three children. You know Aang abandons them to go and fight Vaatu's latest incarnation. You know that the children grow up without a father.

However, that is not the end of the story of the last Avatar.

 _But how can that be?_ you ask. _How can that be when you've just told us that Aang never came back?_

But that is just that, dear readers.

 _He_ never came back.

For this is not the story of Avatar Aang, bender of air. This is the story of his successor, the Avatar gifted with the powers of water. This is the tale of a girl not wanting to be branded by the glory of her predecessor. This is the story of a hot-headed teen, her polar-bear dog, and her companions.

This, dear readers, is the Legend of Korra.

* * *

 **end notes | you know, i told myself that i wasn't going to write this until I was done with the second case of Illogically Logical, but my plot bunnies insisted. really, guys? a doctor who au of LOK? exactly how much of a fandom geek am i right now?**

 **my thanks go to a good friend of mine for helping me transform this fic from a rabid plot bunny to something resembling a fic. you know who you are and what i mean. so really. thank you.**

 **unfortunately, i'm going to be gone for the next few weeks, meaning slow updates. i don't know how long this is going to be, but i do have a vague idea of where this is going.**

 **so keep an eye out for updates on this, no matter how sporadic they may be i have never given up on a fic for this fandom and i don't intend to start now.**

 **well, that's all for now, folks. review, fav, follow, raise my traffic stats—do whatever you need to do! and constructive criticism is, as always, greatly appreciated! :)**


	2. one: metamorphosis (it's a calm burning)

_a/n: i own nothing, i promise. everything belongs to bryke._

* * *

 _virgin air expands a dawning breath_

 _as the sun rises over this new hearth._

 _heart fluttering synthesis nervous excited_

 _steps into a new skin a new face._

 _i smile and wonder fates drift_

 _this flowing floating river_

 _a current all its own_

 _with rebirth at every bend._

 _-Anonymous  
_

* * *

Waking up on the forest floor, the only thought that enters his mind is _well, that was quick._

The coppery taste of blood fills his mouth, which he spits on the ground, and he realizes after a moment that he seems to have an appendix. Huh. Unfashionable and not particularly useful—why does he have one again?

He pulls himself into a standing position with the help of a very nice tree—although he doesn't have time to thank it yet, he's far too eager to see what he looks like now—and once his vision stops doing intense gymnastics routines, he stumbles forward. Chancing a look down at himself, he's pleased to see that he's still clothed. Then he does a double-take.

"Ah! My arms are gone! I haven't got arms!" He squints, flaps his arms a few times, and comes to the conclusion that his sleeves are just too long. Which is a shame, really. Means his latest incarnation is a bit on the short side. Maybe he'll grow in time… "Wait." He tests out his voice again, and after babbling inanely for a while, he concludes that it's far higher than normal. What had happened? And—and what is wrong with his chest?

He stumbles forward more, then realizes he could just airbend himself to the nearest river and/or mirror to see just what's going on. He pushes his arms forward in proper form, but not even a wisp of air comes out. "Airbend," he says, because maybe his chakra needs a little push, "airbend!"

Nothing happens.

Too bad. He'd rather liked the element of air and flying definitely had its perks. He thinks for a while, trying to recall the cycle, but to no avail. He supposes that his forgetfulness stems from having to completely rearrange every molecule in his body again. How many times has it been now? Definitely more than ten but less than fifty.

He reaches a river in no time, but once he sees his reflection he nearly has a coronary because it means that he is no longer a he but rather a she. Bit awkward. He hasn't been a woman in nearly two regenerations—he wonders if going through the feminine motions had been what had made him-when-he-was-Kyoshi so angry. But he's not Kyoshi now: now he's a mildly tall teenage female with chocolaty skin and bright blue eyes and Water Tribe garb and brown hair tied back into a hairstyle he can't even begin to figure out. He has a feeling he looks like someone, someone important to him, but he puts it aside for now.

He supposes he may as well start using female pronouns, all things considered, and complains mostly about the difference in height from his last regeneration and lack of tattoos because damn, those had really been cool. In a few different tones of voice, he tests out some third person phrases: "That's the Avatar; _she's_ the last of her kind. That's the Avatar; she can save the world! _She's_ the Avatar, she travels with an animal comp—ah!" He'd thought he was forgetting something. "Raava!"

He—no, wait, _she,_ he's a she now—looks up to the skies and is nearly surprised out of her wits when a flash of white rams into her, making her fall onto her not-nearly-padded-enough butt. "You aren't Appa anymore, are you, huh?" she asks, hugging Raava's newest form around the neck. Ha ha, she's a she too this time. "Hm. I think I'll call you…Naga. Suits you, eh?"

Appa—no, Naga—nods, like she's proud of her for coming up with a good name.

"As for me…well, that'll come in due time. Any clue of what year we're in?" Naga barks once. "Wait." Her brows furrow as memories come trickling back, reminding her that this isn't quite possible. "That can't be right—are you sure?" Naga looks offended, even for a polar bear dog. "How can that be? When I—when I left to fight Vaatu, it was in 118 AG. It can't be 170 AG now. Can it?"

She has to sit down for a moment, and luckily Naga is nice enough to catch her before she hurts herself. She closes her eyes in concentration as a dull pain begins throbbing behind her eyes, the memories flittering around in the back of her mind—

And then she remembers. Her body hums with suppressed energy and all of her nerve endings explode in pain as she remembers Sokka and Suki and Toph and Zuko and Katara and Bumi and Kya and _oh Tue and La_ Aang had had children. He'd had another one on the way—Katara had been pregnant!

She inhales sharply, fighting the urge to bury her face in her hands. Fifty-two years. She had said she'd be back soon, and she's been away for fifty-two years. She'd missed the birth of her son or daughter, Bumi and Kya's birthdays, wedding anniversaries, the possible deaths of his friends…

She's been gone for fifty-two years.

She's been gone for more than half a century, which means there's no time to waste now. "Naga!" she snaps. Naga whirls around. "I don't know where we are, but we need to get to Air Temple Island right now."

Naga cocks her head to the side and lets out a thin growl phrased like a question.

She feels like her brain is going to explode. This is Air Temple Island? The trees that surround her are the ones that Bumi and Kya had planted last week? No, wait. That had been fifty-two years ago. Good grief. She still can't quite wrap her mind around the fact that she's been gone for so long.

There's no time to think about it now, she tells herself sternly. And with that, she hops on Naga's back and yells, "Yip yip!"

Naga, instead of protesting like she'd expected, takes off at a run. In what seems like no time at all they've made it back to the temple that she'd built in her previous life. But it had grown so much in the last fifty-two years!

"You!" She whirls around to see a young woman dressed in a yellow and red tunic, almost like a homage to her past life. "What're you doing here? How did you get here?"

"Which do you want answered first?" Spirits, why does she have to be all cocky now? She schools her expression, stiffens her spine, and says, "I'm here to see Katara."

The woman, perhaps taken aback at how intimately she had said her former life's wife's name (say that ten times fast), takes a step back. "Master Katara is in hospice," she says evenly.

"Hospice?" But that can't be right. Hospice is reserved for the sick and dying. Her blood freezes in her veins at the implication. "She's dying?"

"She is over eighty years old, ma'am." _Ma'am. That's a new one_. "She's been ill for the last two years." Then the woman does a double-take. "You know, you look just like she did when she was younger."

Ah. That explains the familiar face of her latest incarnation. _Guess Katara really was the last thing on Aang's mind when he regenerated._ "I have to see her."

"She is on her last breath, ma'am." She should give the woman credit for her steadfast behavior, but now it's getting aggravating. "Only family is allowed in now."

"Well, that's good because I am family," she snaps, not able to take it anymore. "I'm the Avatar and I demand that you let me inside!" Without further ado, she digs her heels into Naga's sides, and the polar bear dog runs forward at a gallop, entering her past life's home with ease—although she scatters several people to the side as she does so. Luckily, Naga still has Katara's scent memorized, so they find her with relative ease.

She leaps off Naga and kicks the door open, startling the three teary-eyed people inside. But she has eyes for only one person, and for a second she's so caught up on memories of the past that she doesn't quite absorb what's going on.

Katara's once dark skin has paled in age, and her smooth face has spawned wrinkles. Her hair, once a rich brown, has whitened until no traces of its original color remain. She's gotten shorter, smaller, frailer, but her blue eyes, the ones her past life had fallen in love with, have stayed the same through all this time.

"Katara," she whispers. "Spirits, Katara…"

"Who are you?"

Startled out of her reverie, she turns around quickly and sees a brown-haired man in his sixties giving her a death glare. Next to him stands a tan-skinned woman with graying hair pulled back in a ponytail, looking apprehensive. But the real kicker is locking eyes with the fifty-ish balding man that looks exactly like her past life.

She feels sparks of recognition go up and down her spine.

"I'll ask you one more time, who do you think you are, breaking into our home during a time like this?" Bumi asks, advancing forward. He's probably trying to look threatening but she's gone head to head with Vaatu and his Dark Spirits so it kind of feels like a baby saber tooth moose lion is growling up at her. "How did you even get here?"

The only thing that she can think of to say is, "You've all gotten so old."

Kya looks about as dumbfounded as Bumi. "Who are you? Do we know you?" To Bumi, she says in an audible undertone, "Is she one of your bastards?"

"No!" the Avatar snaps, somewhat offended but mostly shocked at the language between the two siblings, who had been close when Aang had left. "If anything you're all one of mine."

Now they all look confused.

"Hey, kids," she says, feeling awkward all over again. "I'm your father."

The silence lasts for half a second—then Bumi says, "Bison bull", Kya stumbles back in shock, and her other child's eyes widen so much she's afraid they'll plop out of his head if he's not careful.

"Impossible," Kya says, still looking a second away from a heart attack.

"Prove it," Bumi says at the same time. "I was nine when Dad left. Tell us something that only we would know."

"First off, Boom," she says, and Bumi pales at his old nickname, "you were not nine when I left. You were seven. You used to sneak egg cookies before dinner and got a bad grade on a science project. Kya, I called you my little princess because when you were small all you wanted to be was a princess. I told you before I left that I wanted you to be my good girl. And as for you," she says to the child remaining, "I never got to know you because I've been gone your entire life. I left when Katara was four months pregnant."

The silence is overwhelming. Bumi and Kya's jaws hang low. Her last child steps forward and brushes his hand over her face, then quickly retracts it. "Tenzin," he says, his voice breaking as he takes a step back. "I'm Tenzin."

"Tenzin," she repeats, committing the name to memory. "It's good to finally meet you, Tenzin."

But before she can embrace her children—Aang's children—Katara sits up on her bed, and she doesn't remember moving but finds herself next to Aang's wife. "I'm back," she says quietly, trying not to cry. "I'm back, Katara."

Katara graces her with a toothy smile, and this time she does start crying. "I knew you would be."

"I'm sorry," she says, because apologies are all she can admit right now. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…I didn't mean to be gone for so long."

"But you saved the world," Katara says, her voice raspy. "And you've r-regenerated, too." Katara's hand comes up and strokes the Avatar's face. "You h-have hair now and everything."

"They told me you're dying," she whispers, cutting to the chase.

"Yes," Katara replies, and she seems to have come to terms with her mortality. Too bad the Avatar hasn't. "I'm dying."

"I can heal y—"

Katara shakes her head, sinking back down into her pillows. "Don't," she says simply. "I have lived a long life, I'm ready to move on. I'm ready to see Sokka and Suki and my parents again."

She's crying, and so are Kya and Bumi and Tenzin. "Mom," Kya mewls, and she has the urge to hug Aang's daughter but can't bring herself to move, "please don't go…"

"Kya," Katara whispers, "will you still love me when I'm gone?"

"Y-yes."

"Then I'll still love you. And be with you." Katara lifts her hand toward Bumi, who grabs it in his. "I'm proud of you, Bumi. I love you so much."

Bumi crumples over her hand, sobbing.

"And Tenzin—" Her words cut off with a series of coughs. "O-oh, honey, I love you. Never doubt that."

"Don't leave us," the Avatar pleads while Tenzin weeps. "Please, Katara. Please don't go."

"I'll never leave you," she says, looking at all of them with nothing but love in her eyes. "I love you all."

One hour later, she dies.

And while the children cry and people rush in and out of the temple making funeral arrangements, all the Avatar feels is numb because she'd never thanked Aang's wife for going penguin sledding with him.

* * *

"I'm not staying."

Bumi and Kya's heads shoot up at her declaration. Tenzin, whose head had been up originally, doesn't move, but his eyes widen to comical proportions again. "What do you mean?" he asks.

She scuffs her foot against the marble floor. "I don't belong here," she says honestly. "Don't deny it."

Kya bites her lip and Bumi looks down at his hands. Tenzin fusses with invisible dust on his robes (so similar to the ones of her past life's). But no one jumps to deny it. No one says for her to stay. She'd expected that but it still hurts.

"Look, I..." She doesn't know how to phrase this without coming off as offensive, but the actions of Aang's children over the last few days have been anything but cordial. "I have been here for a week and none of you have said more than five words to me. I've counted. Hello and goodbye don't count."

"What did you expect?" Bumi asks bitterly, crossing his arms over his chest. "A hero's welcome?"

"I don't know what I expected," she snaps, losing her temper. "I didn't expect to be gone for fifty-two years, regenerate, or to have my—or to see Katara die in front of me. Sure, I left you, but you have to believe that I had every intention of coming back and—"

"Save it." This time it's Kya who speaks. "I believed you would come back for a long time. Mom told me—she said you knew where that evil spirit was, that it wouldn't take you forever to beat it. Why did it take you fifty-two years? Admit it. You forgot about us."

"I don't remember," she says through gritted teeth, "what happened that day that I fought Vaatu. All I know is that I woke up, both Raava and I had regenerated, and fifty-two years had passed. I don't know if I spent the last few years lying in that forest, I don't know if he wiped my memory, but I swear that I would never have abandoned or forgotten you." An idea suddenly strikes her like a brick to the head. "But I'm back now! I'm back now and we can start over!"

"The deed is done," Bumi says quietly, showing a little bit of respect for the first time. She, Tenzin, and Kya turn to look at him. "You're back now, sure, but you're not our father. Hell, I only had a few years with him, so did Kya. Tenzin never got anything but bedtime stories about him. You can't just come back and expect us to call you Dad like we didn't miss fifty-two years with y—with him."

A sad smile flickers on Tenzin's lips. "Bumi's right," he says simply, still managing to sound kind despite the heartbreak laced in. "And…well, I have my own life. I'm married, I have three kids—one on the way."

"Mazel tov," she says in a language even older than the lion turtles. At Tenzin's confused look, she clarifies. "Congratulations."

"Thank you. As I was saying, Kya lives with her wife in the Northern Water Tribe. Bumi is a commander in the United Forces. You—your past life was our father. He did many great things, he saved the world, he married our mother, he had us…" He sighs, as if Aang's past accomplishments are too vast to list. "You've just regenerated, and…well, I think you should carve your own path now."

She blinks at them slowly, grabbing her stomach out of pure awkwardness. "You guys really don't want me to stay, do you?" It's meant as a joke, but after a while no one denies it, not even Tenzin—the only one of Aang's children that seems to be on her side.

"Okay," she says, her voice creaky and hoarse all at once. "Okay, then I'll leave."

She walks slowly out of the room, her hands spasming at her sides, hoping that Bumi or Kya or Tenzin or _somebody_ will come after her and beg her to stay. She doesn't know anyone in this world—and the people that were so important to Aang have just wordlessly kicked her out of the house. She feels like a small child again, needing someone to wrap her in a hug after a bad day.

No one comes after her, so she runs to Naga, wrapping her arms around her friend's neck and burying her face in the polar bear dog's shaggy white fur. Her shoulders heave but tears refuse to leak from her eyes. She's too proud for that—she won't give anyone the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

"Naga," she says once she's finally pulled herself together. "We can't stay here. I don't want to go through time, not yet. I don't think either of us are strong enough for that."

Naga lets out a rough woof that sounds like a sigh of relief.

"But we do need to get out of here."

Naga nods and cocks her head to the side in a strangely human expression, reminding the Avatar of the times when she'd been Wan and Raava had been able to manifest herself into human form. As time went on, she'd joked about someday having the Avatar reincarnate into an animal and having herself reincarnate into a human so she could save the day once in a while.

Shaking those thoughts away, the Avatar bites her lip hard enough to draw blood and swings herself onto Naga's back. That way she gets a better vantage point of the flickering lights of a city just across the bay— _Republic City, it'll be called,_ Zuko laughs _, because I think we need a little democracy to go along with all of the monarchies of the present day_ —and marvels how much it's grown since she-when-she'd-been-a-he had left fifty-two years ago.

Tenzin's right, she thinks. She needs time to grieve but overall needs a fresh start. Once she's moved on—even though the concept sounds impossible because her heart feels like it's been strapped to a booster rocket—she can find herself a name, look for friends (for companions), travel through time...

(She can't imagine travelling without Katara or Sokka or Suki or Toph or Zuko though.)

"Alright, Naga," she says, gathering the attention of her friend. "Let's go to Republic City."

Naga takes a few steps backward for a running start, then explodes forward, her paws thundering against the soft grass while the Avatar hangs on for dear life. A familiar kaleidoscopic portal opens up in front of them, and they leap into it.

And then, aside from the stunned bystanders watching from the windows, there's no proof that they've ever been there at all.

* * *

 **end notes | okay, so thank you all so much for the frankly _amazing_ response to the first chapter (two reviews, one community add, one favorite, and six follows). you're all incredible! *blows you kisses***

 **as for this chapter—what'd you think? good? bad? drop me a line and let me know: and remember, constructive criticism is especially welcome! :)**


	3. two: alone with no hope and the rain

_a/n: i own nothing, i promise. everything belongs to bryke._

* * *

 _Listen._

 _The Earth breathes its cotton whisper.  
It is time for a new dawn._

 _Under the roaring sun, a world is born.  
The gracious trees stretch their aching limbs.  
Anxious flowers give way to fresh seeds.  
This fragile paradise brought for forgiveness.  
An apology for months of sorrow._

 _The fading day dips into a looming night, softly crooning,_

" _Forgive me."_

 _-Alexis Zapzalka_

* * *

The rain pours relentlessly, dampening her hair, rivulets of water running down her face and mingling with the tears that she's been trying to suppress ever since she'd awoken in this strange new world where Aang's children were grown and Katara was dead. Darkness cloaks her like a blanket, the light of the sun hidden behind the dark gray clouds weeping overhead. It's like the whole world is in mourning, something that she finds fitting. For once, she and the universe are on the same page.

They've been in the city for three days now, just her and Naga. Although she's gotten used to eating again (and having an appendix again, something she still thinks she can live without), life here is tough. When she-when-she-she'd-been-a-he had left, she'd seen a car only once. Now they're everywhere—two bigwig companies keep making them, Future Industries and Cabbage Corp, and they're proper enemies, kind of like her and Vaatu. The food is different, and it's more expensive too. She'd attempted begging for food when Naga had gotten hungry, and all she'd gotten were looks of pity and a heel of bread.

A Satomobile casts a pale cone of yellow onto her and Naga as it passes, splashing water onto them and soaking them more than ever, and she takes the full brunt of it, not wanting Naga to be more uncomfortable than she already is. Raava never complains no matter how bad their situations have gotten, and she doesn't want her only friend left to begin.

She can't travel through time. Neither can Naga. The cold has weakened her and grief has seeped into her bones and her blood and her soul, preventing her from doing anything but moving from one street corner to the other in search of warmth and shade and a bit of food. She curses the universe for not giving her the powers of fire in this reincarnation to keep her and Naga warm.

Speaking of this reincarnation, she doesn't feel like a unique individual yet. When she'd transitioned from Roku to Aang, she'd known immediately what to call herself and had adjusted to her new powers. (Then again, the hundred years spent in that iceberg had given her plenty of time to think about it.) It's been ten days and she's gone through every name that she could think of, from Aiko to ZanYi, and nothing feels _right_. She can't help but feel particularly sorry for herself because of it: not only can she not bend nor time travel, but she doesn't even have a name. Maybe she'll never find one. Maybe she'll forever be known as Avatar No-Name. The thought actually makes her smile a little

"How about the name Katara?" she suggests to Naga fruitlessly. She shivers and rubs her frozen fingers together, a gesture of silent discontent, while she waits for her companion to bark a reply. "Kind of a homage to Aang, eh?" Naga's expression is an answer in itself. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

She bets that all of the passerby think that she's crazy and she can't really bring herself to care.

She knows that she's hurting because there's an empty pit in her chest, one filled with gloom and despair, a tightly coiled knot of anger and fury and hopelessness that just won't go away. She spends half her waking hours ready to scream at people who pass by her with a smile on their faces and the other half willing oceans to not spill from her eyes. Emotions swirl inside her that she can't even describe much less keep inside her— _fearangerhelplessnessguiltheartbreak_ —and Spirits, she just wants to go back to the way things were.

There's a person standing in front of her now. She makes an effort to look up at himherwhatever and the breath nearly whooshes from her lungs. It's as though a spark of electricity goes up and down her spine and reawakens her—even Naga can feel it; she lifts her head from her paws to scrutinize the person standing in front of her.

It's a girl, a young woman rather, around the age of eighteen or nineteen. She takes a moment to identify the characteristics of this young woman—dark, flowing hair that goes down to the small of her back, porcelain-pale skin, a muscled body (she runs and experiments in all sorts of martial arts styles, that's interesting), expensive clothing, and emerald-green eyes; oh, she could get lost in those eyes. She's beautiful. She's dry, too, thanks to the umbrella she's holding. Spirits, how she wishes she could have an umbrella now. Oh no, she's speaking, what is she saying? "—are you alright?"

"No," she says truthfully, because why would she lie in situations like this? She's not alright and there's no point of lying.

The girl's face softens slightly, and she crouches down next to the Avatar, her skirts dabbing into the puddles like a paintbrush into a cup of water. This is the most conversation she's had with anyone in ages. "My name's Asami Sato," she states, tilting her head to the side. Asami Sato, she thinks. Heir apparent to Future Industries. This just got interesting. "What's yours?"

"…my name?" _Quick, quick, you stupid girl, think of a name, any name, it doesn't even matter; Asami's looking at you like you're stupid, say something,_ any _thing_ — "I'm the Avatar." _Smooth._ She's pretty sure that Naga is laughing at her tact.

Asami's brows furrow together but she doesn't run away, thankfully. "Okay, that's your—that's your title, I suppose. But do you have a name?"

The Avatar breathes, inhaling and exhaling and trying not to panic because she doesn't want to scare off the only person that's been nice to her so far. "Korra," she finally says, deciding to be ironic. In the old language Korra means 'extremes in fortune, health and spirituality.' Since she's decidedly lacking in all of those categories, she finds it funny. And she does like the name. It actually fits her, much better than any other name from Aiko to ZanYi. "My name is Korra."

Asami sticks out her hand, and Korra shakes it. "Nice to meet you, Korra," she says, and she actually sounds like she means it. "So, ah…" she plops down next to Korra on the ground, paying no mind to how fast her skirt gets wet. Korra's respect for the girl grows. "What's your dog's name?"

"Polar bear dog," Korra corrects her before Naga can. "And her name is Naga."

"That's a nice name." Asami rubs Naga's head gently. Korra smiles softly at the expression of bliss on her companion's face. "So, Korra," she says, "how come you're here? Are you homeless?"

Korra's laugh is void of any humor. "I had a home, once." She almost doesn't clarify but something in Asami's expression forces her to. "I was gone from home for a long time. Then I came back today to find that my—that someone special to me had died, and her children didn't want me in their home. I left to save myself from awkwardness."

"I'm sorry," Asami says politely and sincerely. "How long were you gone from home?"

"Fifty-two years." Immediately, Korra wishes she'd lied, but it's always been her instinct to constantly tell the truth no matter what. _Well, I knew it_ ; she thinks as Asami stands up _, I knew it was too good to last. The company was nice, though._

"You know," Asami says, getting Korra's immediate attention. "I've seen you and Naga here a lot over the last few days. Everyone—well, everyone around here's been calling you a madwoman with a polar bear dog."

"And you think I'm crazy too." It's not even a question, it's a statement. The Avatar has never really been the poster child for normal behavior under the best of circumstances. There's a reason that several insane asylums around the Four Nations have been named after Kyoshi.

"Actually, no," Asami answers, shocking Korra out of her wits. "I've been told that I can read people really well, and, ah, I know that we just met officially but I can already tell that you're sad but you're certainly not crazy." She pauses, biting her lip. She sticks out her hand and helps Korra to her feet. "You're not quite…"

"Human?" Korra asks, raising an eyebrow cockily. Hmm. She's cocky in this regeneration. That's a start. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

Asami's brows furrow again. "So…then you're not human."

"I was once," Korra says vaguely, gesturing aimlessly to show that it was eons and epochs ago. "Not anymore. Naga's not a polar bear dog either, she's about as far from an animal as you can imagine." Asami nods like this sort of thing happens every day. Korra's impressed. "You're taking this remarkably well, Asami Sato."

"Believe me, I'm surprised too," Asami replies with a quicksilver smile. "I just—you've proven yourself to be…trustworthy. Even if I don't know who you are. Or what you are."

"I am the Chosen One of the lion turtles and the progeny of the elements," Korra says, repeating the speech that's become her catechism over the years. "I am the Seer of what is, what was, what could be and what must not. I am the first and the last and the in-between. I am the Avatar." She grins suddenly, adrenaline coursing through her veins. "I travel through time with my polar bear dog. This is my thirtieth regeneration; I believe—lost track ages ago. When you've been alive as long as I have things start to get muddled upstairs." And then something occurs to her. "Want to come with me?"

Asami's eyebrows nearly disappear into her hairline. "Come with you where?"

"The proper question is 'come with me when', not that it matters. Back, forward, in between. I don't care. You're the first person that I've met in this form that's actually been nice to me. They don't really make humans like you anymore. But that's not the point. You're bored in your life, aren't you, Asami Sato? You're the heir apparent to Future Industries. You're an engineer in training. You struggle to get people to believe that you're more than just a pretty face."

Asami flushes, her cheeks rivaling the flags of the Fire Nation. "How…how do you know that?" she whispers, her voice quivering like a plucked violin string.

"I'm the Avatar," she says by way of explanation even though it's not satisfying in the slightest. "It's my job to know things. But that's not the point of my question, is it? Would you like to come with me?"

Asami crosses her arms over her chest and her fingers tap patterns on her arms. Both of them are drenched and soggy and she's hungry and still grieving her past life's wife but this is the most alive she's felt in what feels like forever. "Okay," the heiress finally says, smiling. "Yes, I'll come with you. I'm in need of some fun."

Korra whoops, grabbing Asami and pulling her off the ground into a tight hug. "Yes! Fantastic; you're fantastic!" she exclaims, setting down her new friend and companion. "Asami Sato, you're brilliant." Spirits, the grief that had weighed down her bones is gone; she's found a companion. She needs to write this moment down for the history books. "Climb aboard." She graciously allows Asami to climb on top of Naga, still holding her umbrella. "Last chance to back out, y'know."

"I'm already in this," she says. "May as well stick with you until the end."

Korra laughs again as she jumps on top of Naga. Surprisingly, no onlookers have noticed this. Perhaps it's for the best. "Your decision."

"This really isn't how I pictured my day going," Asami reveals while Naga prepares herself to jump through time. "Chatting and eventually travelling with the madwoman and her polar bear dog."

She turns around to her new friend, completely serious. "Listen up," Korra says, leaning in closer, "before we go anywhere, before we do anything, there's something you ought to know about me. This is important, now, and one day your life may depend on it." Her serious expression abruptly dissolves into a wild grin. "I am _definitely_ just a madwoman with a polar bear dog."

To the melodious sound of Asami's laughter, Korra turns back to Naga. "Alright, Naga," she says, gathering the attention of her friend instantly. "Let's try to impress Miss Sato here, eh? Take us somewhere you think she'll enjoy." Naga raises an eyebrow and barks questioningly. "Yes, perfect. Take us there."

Asami's arms wrap securely around her waist as Naga explodes forward, leaping into a familiar kaleidoscopic portal that opens up in the middle of the street.

And then, aside from the stupefied passerby who'd just witnessed two girls and a polar-bear dog disappear into thin air, there's no proof that they've ever been there at all.

 **end notes | okay, so thank you all so much for the incredible** **response to the last chapter (four reviews, five favorites, and four follows!). you're the best readers in the entire world—thanks for being so patient. i promise that it won't be as long of a wait again.**

 **as for this chapter—what'd you think? good? bad? drop me a line and let me know: and remember, constructive criticism is especially welcome! :)**


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